CLC men's golfers headed to national meet again

The College of Lake County men's golf team lost all but one player to graduation from last year's team that advanced to the NJCAA national tournament for the first time in school history.

Thanks to some fabulous freshmen and sophomore captain Jonathan Duffie, the Lancers will head to nationals for the second consecutive year.

CLC fired a three-round total of 944 to place second at the Region IV sectional tournament that concluded Saturday at Prairie View Golf Course in Byron.

Black Hawk College won the tourney (320) and Elgin placed third (359). Only the top two teams qualify.

The national tournament will be played in Phoenix in May.

Coach Ron Klein, who was hired this summer when Larry Leon moved on to Robert Morris, was thrilled with the way the Lancers shook off a poor opening round.

"They had a bad first day and they still made it into a fantastic tournament," he said. "The talent was there, and they kept their composure and positive attitude."

The best example of this was freshman Kevin Shimer (Deerfield). After opening with an 81, he carded a season-best 2-under-par 70 in the second round. At one point, he was 4 under par.

"He's capable of really going into red figures," Klein said. "The other guys knew he was going low and that really fired them up."

It's not easy to follow a low round with another good score, but Shimer closed with a 73. The Lancers also counted scores Saturday from Alex Pekelsna (74), Duffie (76) and Grayslake Central graduate Troy Beyer (80).

Pekelsna had carded an 81 and 83 in the first two rounds.

"He plays well when he's under pressure," Klein said. "He helped us quite a bit."

Beyer's third-round 80 was his best score of the tournament.

"He's got so much potential for next year," Klein said.

So do the Lancers.

But first, they have one more tournament to look forward to.